Sometimes. When I really want to get his attention I call him brother.
Youre Gods sister? That startled Althalus.
Sort of.
I dont think I want to push that any further. Lets go back to what we were talking about before, Em. Just how long have I been here? Give me a number.
Two thousand, four hundred, and sixty seven as of last week.
Youre just making that up, arent you?
No. Was there anything else?
He swallowed very hard. Some of those naps I took were a lot longer than Id thought they were, werent they? That makes me just about the oldest man in the world, doesnt it?
Not quite. Theres a man named Ghend whos quite a bit older than you are.
Ghend? He didnt really look all that old to me.
Her green eyes went very wide. You know Ghend?
Of course I do. Hes the one who hired me to come here and steal the Book.
Why didnt you tell me? she almost shrieked at him.
I must have.
No, as a matter of fact, you didnt. You idiot! Youve been sitting on that for the last twenty-five hundred years!
Calm down, Emmy. Were not going to get anywhere if you turn hysterical. He gave her a long, level look. I think its just about time for you to tell me exactly whats going on, Emmy and dont try to put me off this time by telling me that I wont understand or that Im not ready to know certain things yet. I want to know whats going on and why its so important.
We dont have time for that.
He leaned back on his bench. Well, were just going to take the time, little kitten. Youve been treating me like a house-pet for quite a while now. I dont know if youve noticed, but I dont have a tail, and even if I did, I probably wouldnt wag it every time you snapped your fingers. You dont have me completely tamed, Em, and Im telling you right here and now that we arent going any further until you tell me just exactly whats going on.
Her look was very cold. What is it that you want to know? Her tone was almost unfriendly.
He laid one hand on the Book. Oh, I dont know, he said. Why dont we start out with everything? Then we can move on from there.
She glared at him.
No more deep, dark secrets, Emmy. Start talking. If things are as serious as you seem to think they are, then be serious.
Maybe you are ready to know whats going on, she conceded. How much do you know about Daeva?
Just what it says in the Book. Id never even heard of him before I came here. Hes very angry with Deiwos, I gather. Deiwos seems to be sorry that he feels that way, but hes going to keep on doing what hes doing whether Daeva likes it or not probably because he has to.
Thats a novel interpretation, she said. She mulled it over a bit. Now that I think about it, though, there seems to be a lot of truth in it. Somehow youve managed to redefine the concept of evil. In your view, evils no more than a disagreement about the way things are supposed to be. Deiwos thinks theyre supposed to be one way, and Daeva thinks theyre supposed to be another.
I thought I just said that. Its the business of making things that started the fight then, isnt it?
That might be an oversimplification, but it comes fairly close. Deiwos makes things because he has to make them. The world and the sky werent complete the way they were. Deiwos saw that, but Daeva didnt agree. When Deiwos does things to make the world and the sky complete, it changes them. Daeva believes thats a violation of the natural order. He doesnt want things to change.
What a shame. Theres not much he can do about it, though, is there? Once somethings been changed, its been changed. Daeva cant very well go back and unchange it, can he?
He seems to think so.
Time only moves in one direction, Emmy. We cant go back and undo something that happened in the past just because we dont like the way it turned out
Daeva thinks he can.
Then both of his wheels just came off the axle. Time isnt going to run backward just because he wants it to. The sea might run dry and the mountains might wear down, but time runs from the past to the future. Thats probably the only thing that wont change.
We can all hope that youre right, Althalus, because if you arent, Daevas going to win. Hell unmake everything Deiwos has made and return the earth and sky to what they were at the very beginning. If he can make time go backward, then things he does now will change things that happened in the past, and if he can change enough of the past, we wont be here any more.
Whats Ghend got to do with all of this? Althalus asked her suddenly.
Ghend was one of the early men who came to this part of the world about ten thousand years ago. That was before men had learned how to cook certain rocks to make copper or how to mix tin with copper to make bronze. All their tools and weapons were made of stone, and Ghends chief put him to work cutting down trees so that the tribe could plant grain. Ghend hated that, and Daeva approached him and persuaded him to abandon Deiwos and worship him instead. Daeva can be very persuasive when he wants to be. Ghends the high priest of the Demon Daeva, and the absolute master of Nekweros. Emerald looked up suddenly. Then she sinuously flowed down from the bed, crossed the floor and jumped up to the sill of the north window. I should have known, she said in an irritated voice. Hes doing it again.
Doing what?
Come here and see for yourself.
He rose and crossed to the window. Then he stopped, staring incredulously. There was something out there, and there wasnt supposed to be. The world didnt seem to end there any more. What is that? he asked, staring at what appeared to be a white mountain.
Ice, she replied. This isnt the first time its happened. Every so often Daeva and Ghend try this way to slow things down usually when they think Deiwos is getting too far ahead of them.
Thats a lot of ice, Em. When I was coming here, the clouds were a long way down. Did that water down there start rising?
No. It froze solid a long time ago. It snows on it every winter, and the snow doesnt melt any more. More snow piles up and presses down on it, and it turns to ice.
How thick is it?
About two miles maybe three.
I meant how thick, Em, not how far away.
So did I. Once it gets thick enough, itll be above the level of what you call the edge of the world. Then itll start to move. Itll grind down mountains and spill down onto the plains. Nothing can stop it, and man wont be able to live in this part of the world any more.
Have you seen this happen before?
Several times. Its just about the only way Ghend and Daeva have to interrupt what Deiwos is doing. Were going to have to change our plans, Althalus.
I didnt know we had a plan.
Oh, weve got a plan all right, pet. I just hadnt gotten around to telling you about it yet. I thought we had more time.
Oh, weve got a plan all right, pet. I just hadnt gotten around to telling you about it yet. I thought we had more time.
Youve already had twenty-five hundred years, Em. How much more did you think you were going to need?
Probably about another twenty-five hundred. If youd told me about Ghend earlier, I might have been able to adjust things. Now were going to have to cheat. I just hope it doesnt make Deiwos angry with me.
Your brothers awfully busy, Em, Althalus said piously. We shouldnt really pester him with all the picky little details, should we?
She laughed. My thought exactly, pet. We were made for each other.
Are you only just now coming to realize that? The simplest way for us to cheat would probably be for me to just slip on over to Nekweros and kill Ghend, wouldnt it?
Thats an awfully blunt way to put it, Althalus.
Im a plain-spoken man, Em. All this dancing around is just a waste of time, because thats what its going to come down to in the end, isnt it? Ghend wanted me to come here and steal the Book so that he could destroy it. If I kill him, we can destroy his Book, and then Daeva has to go back and start all over.
How did you find out about Daevas Book? she asked sharply.
Ghend showed it to me back in Nabjors camp.
Hes actually carrying it around out in the real world? Whats he thinking of?
Dont ask me to tell you what somebody else is thinking, Em. My guess is that he knew that Id never seen a Book before, so he brought one along to show me what they look like. The pictures in his Book werent at all like the ones in ours, though.
You didnt touch it, did you?
Not the Book itself. He handed me one of the pages, though.
The pages are the Book, Althalus. Youve touched both Books with your bare hands? she demanded, shuddering.
Yes. Is that significant?
The Books are absolutes, Althalus. Theyre the source of ultimate power. Our Book is the power of pure light, and Ghends Book is the power of absolute darkness. When you touched that page from his Book, it should have totally corrupted you.
I was moderately corrupt already, Em, but we can sort that out later. What do you think about my idea? I can slip across the border into Nekweros without anybody ever seeing me. Once Ive put Ghend to sleep, Ill burn his Book, and thatll be the end of it, wont it?
Oh, dear, she sighed.
It is the simplest solution, Em. Why complicate things when you dont have to?
Because you probably wouldnt get more than a mile past the border, pet. Ghends about seventy five hundred years ahead of you. He knows how to use his Book in ways you couldnt even imagine. Using a Book is a very complicated process. You have to be so totally immersed in the Book that the words come to you automatically. She looked at him speculatively. Do you really love me, Althalus? she asked.
Of course I do. You shouldnt even have to ask. Whats that got to do with what we were just talking about?
Its crucial, Althalus. You have to love me totally. Otherwise, this wont work.
What wont work?
I think I know a way for us to cheat. Do you trust me, pet?
Trust you? After all the times youve tried to creep up and pounce on me from behind? Dont be ridiculous.
Whats that supposed to mean?
Youre sneaky, little kitten. I love you, dear, but Im not foolish enough to trust you.
Thats only playing, so it doesnt count.
Whats love and trust got to do with getting rid of Ghend and his Book?
I know how to use our Book, and you dont; but you can do things out there in your world, and I cant.
That sort of defines the problem, I guess. How do we get around it?
We break down the barriers between us, but that means that we have to completely trust each other. I have to be able to get inside your mind so that I can tell you what you have to do and which word from the Book you have to use to do it.
Then I just tuck you in my pocket and we go kill Ghend?
Its a little more complicated than that, Althalus. Youll understand better, I think, once were inside each others minds. The first thing you have to do is empty your mind. Open it up so that I can get in.
What are you talking about?
Think about light or dark or empty. Turn your mind off.
Althalus tried to empty his mind of thought, but that almost never works. The mind can be like an unruly child. Tell it to stop, and it works that much faster.
Well have to try something different, Emerald said, her ears laid back in irritation. Maybe ? she said a bit uncertainly. Go to the south window. I want you to look south at the mountains of Kagwher. Pick out the closest one and count the trees on it.
Count trees? What for?
Because I said so. Dont ask silly questions, just do it.
All right, Em, dont get so excited. He stood up and went to the south window. The nearest peak was only a mile or so away, and he started counting the snow-covered trees up near the top. The snow blurred the outlines of the trees, and that made counting them very difficult.
Move over just a little. Her voice seemed to be murmuring in his right ear, and he jerked his head around in surprise. He couldnt feel her on his shoulder, but he could almost feel her warm breath on the side of his face.
Emerald was still sitting on the bed a dozen feet away. I asked you to move over, pet, her voice sounded inside his head. I need a little more room.
What are you doing? he exclaimed.
Shush. Im busy.
He felt a kind of surging inside his head as if something were moving around in there. Quit fidgeting, her voice told him. Im not taking up that much room.
Then the sense of intrusion began to fade and he felt the gentle rumble of her purring within his mind. Now you are mine, her purring gloated.
Whats going on? he demanded in alarm.
You dont have to talk out loud any more, pet, she breathed inside his mind. Now that Im in here, I can hear your thoughts; and you can hear mine, if youll just take the trouble to listen.
How did you do that?
Just think the words, Althalus. Theres an awful echo in here when you think them and say them at the same time.
Are you really in there? he sent his thought inward.
My awareness is. Its also over on the bed, but its easy to be in two places at once with your mind. There was a kind of tickling sensation over his left ear. Its bigger in here than I thought itd be. Youre more clever than Id imagined, and youre really rather poetic.
Will you quit rummaging around in there?
Not a chance, pet. Cats are curious, didnt you know that?
How did you manage to break through so quickly? I thought this was going to take a long time.
So did I, to be honest. I was pushing at the barrier before you started counting. I couldnt get through it, though. As soon as you started counting trees, the barrier went down.